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When God said through Hosea that He desired mercy and not sacrifice (Hosea 6.6), what did He mean? Was He saying that sacrifice was against His will and hence, sinful? Or, is there a meaning that is consistent with the rest of the scriptures as to how God feels about sacrifice and mercy. Our task today will be to try to discover the meaning of this phrase from Hosea, a phrase that was later picked up by Jesus Christ and repeated at least two times (Matthew 9.13 and Matthew 12.7) during His ministry.

Perhaps a biblical account that predates Hosea by a couple of centuries will help in shedding some light on this matter. Saul, the first king of Israel, had been strictly commanded to destroy a certain group of people, the Amalekites, and to take no spoil and no prisoners! After the battle, Samuel the prophet, was assured by Saul that he had completely obeyed the charge that was given him. However, there were sounds in the background that gave away Saul's not-so-well-kept secret. Samuel asked this question: “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” (1 Samuel 15.14). Saul offered some nice sounding excuses for his failure to obey, but they were just that, excuses! One excuse that Saul offered was that the people had planned a huge celebration in which they were planning to offer as sacrifice to God the animals they had taken as spoil. After all was said and done, Samuel said to Saul, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15.22).

Samuel's confrontation of Saul sets forth a set of spiritual priorities that has never been altered. Some things are of far more importance before God than the offering of sacrifices. One thing is obedience! It is the height of hypocrisy to offer to God that which has been obtained contrary to His will! Worship is a willing act that stems from an overflowing heart, not a ritual that can be turned over to rote memory without regards to the symbolism that is involved! Sacrifice was at the heart of the Old Testament worship system. One thing that it affirmed was that God was greater than man. Further, man honord God's superiority by offering only that which rightfully belonged to him as well as offering only those things which complied with God's commandments regarding sacrifice. It was not the case that God might not be paying attention when sacrifices were offered and man could sneak one by on Him!

This type of calloused attitude caused Jesus to prioritize worship and mercy during the sermon on the mount. “Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5.23-24). Even if we can forget something as important as a rift between ourselves and a brother, God certainly will not! To confuse the order of importance between the overt acts of worship and the condition of the heart is to totally miss God's spiritual priority system.

I have known brethren who would not speak to one another, and yet, they would sit on the same pew in the same church house and “commune with the Lord” on Sunday morning by means of the Lord's Supper! How utterly asinine and totally ridiculous! Do we think that our God NEEDS us to commune with Him, even to the point of overlooking the most fundamental of spiritual principles! I would suggest that to “worship” with that set of priorities is to worship in vain! True worship and service requires us to distinguish between “sacrifice” and “mercy” and to honor God's spiritual priority system. (Continued)

Questions:

1. Why did Saul say that the animals of the Amalekites had been spared?

2. When it comes to the forgiveness of another person and worship, which ought to take priority?

3. When the Lord's Supper is taken with wrong and carnal attitudes, do we really commune with Christ? If not, why not?

4. Does God NEED our worship? Why or why not? Is it OK to overlook the importance of attitude (mercy) in order to fulfill one of God's commandments regarding worship. Why or why not?

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

The Second Sin